How to change your career by making a transformational life pivot

Figuring out when and how to change your career is in a lot of ways like leaving a bad marriage. You don’t leave it the moment it stops being the right fit in your life. Leaving a career usually involves many attempts to try and “make it work.” Oscillating between the comfort of the familiar and the inevitability of knowing you must find other opportunities.

To make a lasting and transformative career shift, you must take a complete and all encompassing, lifestyle approach.

This type of career shift is one that family and friends will look at and say, “I’m so proud and happy of how far you’ve come.”

Many struggle mightily trying to figure out how to change career paths. So often people approach career shifts from the job outwards. As a result, they have trouble taking flight.

How to career change “Better”

It’s a life transformation, not a job change

If you’re unhappy in your career, it can be tempting to think that finding a new, fresh job will fill the void you’ve been seeking. But, to make a lasting and meaningful career change, you must use a career transition as an opportunity to alter your life patterns, personal story and create an inflection point for core level change.

Let this be the moment that you look back upon and think, “I’m glad I took the time and effort to do the hard work.” Rather than the quick fix.

The moment of initial success in a career change is when you’re spinning wheels begin to take traction. At this point, you begin to see opportunities where you once saw roadblocks.

The leg work is done at the relationship level

To change our circumstances, we must change the dynamics in the relationships we have.

Who we are and the self esteem we carry is a direct reflection of the relationships and bonds we have with the people around us. To create meaningful change in our career and in turn open opportunities in life, we must positively change or adjust these associations.

A career shift is a time to attend to strained relationships that are causing continued grief.

Healed relationships are grounds for new possibilities.

Have the difficult man/woman in the mirror moments

The ability for us to make lasting and meaningful change is directly proportional to our willingness to accept our responsibility in how things are currently. This shouldn’t be done in a guilt or self harm way but rather, “I can and will do better.”

We do this through honest, self-reflection.

A career shift is a time to let go of any self destructive, victim-based life patterns.

Leave a positive wake

A career change is a transitional stage in life. In a period where you might be finishing a chapter, leaving employers, coworkers and associates, leave them “wishing you well” on your new ventures.

Think of it as good karma on your new journey.

It’s unfortunately not always the norm to make an exit on good terms. However, doing so will usually help clear future and unforeseen roadblocks.

Take the path of integrity

As we shift careers, we must escape the habit of doing the easy or convenient thing, to doing the right thing. This is a fail-safe way to always keep your fortunes leaning in your favour.

It can be natural to take the path of last resistance. As you navigate how to career change, it’s important to intentionally pull away from taking the lazy man’s approach.

Reality: When we begin a career transition, the path is rarely laid out clearly in front of you. You boldly take the first step and trust the process. In many ways it is a journey of faith in yourself and your adaptability.

How to change your career path when you just feel stuck

Escape the Happiness Trap

When we’re unhappy with our jobs, it seems like the logical solution to try and ponder what other career will offer “more” happiness. The problem is that desperately trying to seek happiness will make you miserable and you’ll never find what you were looking for.

The better approach is to seek meaning and purpose as you learn how to change your career. The career shift journey is fortifying the very essence of who you are. Offering magnitudes greater significance than that of trying to grasp a fleeting emotion.

Let go of better

When you decide to shift careers, let go of the idea of seeking “better.” Often the course of action that opens possibilities is initially perceived as a step backward. As you’re figuring how to career change, if you only filter out options that move seem to be a forward direction, you’ll forever remain stuck.

When we’re stuck, what we need is a path. Once we have room to move again, seeking growth is much more obvious.

Action, Action, Action

Opportunities are created through circumstance changing action.

These are actions that once acted upon alter our life circumstances (regardless of how small).

This could be:

• Scheduling and attending a meeting with an admissions specialist at a school

• Sending in a resignation letter at your job

• Spending two hours sending completed job applications to potential employers

• Booking a needed vacation

If Nothing is done, then nothing changes.

Not all actions will be perfect, but can always be course corrected later with… More Action.

It’s a learning experience

A career change is a human journey. It’s going to be flawed and imperfect. It will require learning, persistence and adaptability along the way.

Don’t wait for perfect.

The journey of how to change career paths is one that requires you to be bold. Have a pioneer’s spirit and take the leap (if you’re inspired to).

Have a support system

Despite our best intentions, learning how to change your career can be difficult as we all have our blind spots.

Blind spots are the areas that we act and behave in, in which we don’t even realize we’re doing. We all need someone in our life who can hold up a mirror to us when we’re stuck and say, “this is what you’re doing that’s causing you to spin your wheels.”

The “you” that’s trying to figure out how to change your career is the same “you” that got yourself in the mess in the first place. We can be so close to our own situation that we don’t have the perspective to see where the problem lies.

Sometimes the smallest nudges from an outside voice can offer an unimaginable difference.

A word of advice: Your support figure must be someone who can truly and objectively want to help you without their own  independent agenda. If your support figure is causing you frustration, anger or is being combative, it may be in your best interest to seek this support elsewhere.

Unfortunately, we don’t all have positive voices and role models in our lives.

A career coach is a fantastic ally as you navigate and figure out how to change career paths. If it saves you one day of hardship on your journey, a career coach is a worthy investment.